The Effects of Multiple Factors on Elderly Pedestrians’ Speed Perception and Stopping Distance Estimation of Approaching Vehicles

Jiaming Shi,Xiuying Qian,Changxu Wu

doi:10.3390/su12135308

Abstract

To make safe road-crossing decisions, it is necessary for pedestrians to accurately estimate the speed and stopping distance of approaching vehicles. Accordingly, the objective of our study was to examine the effects of multiple factors, such as weather conditions, context time (day or night), and illuminance of the roads, on older pedestrians’ (>60 years old) speed perception and stopping distance estimation of approaching vehicles. The participants in this study included 48 older participants who were asked to estimate the speed and stopping distance of approaching vehicles based on 12 s video clips that were selected from natural conditions. The results revealed that actual speeds, weather, context time, and lighting conditions played important roles in the performance of the participants. Compared with young adults, older pedestrians were found to have smaller accurate estimation intervals that varied by multidimensional influencing factors and thus resulted in missing road-crossing opportunities at lower vehicles’ speeds and increasing road-crossing dangers at higher speeds. The older pedestrians’ performance with respect to speed perception and stopping distance estimation is modeled using a regression model with a complex level of tasks. These models can be used by engineers when establishing speed limits and lighting conditions in the areas with senior residents.

Highlights

According to a WHO report, approximately 270,000 pedestrians worldwide were killed in 2010, accounting for 22% of the total fatalities resulting from traffic accidents [1]
Speed estimation results and stopping distance estimation results are presented in Sections 3.1 and 3S.p2,ereedspeestcitmivaetliyo.nForerseualctsh,aandesstcorpipptiinvge danisatlaynscies oefstihmeaotbiosnerrveastuioltns waraespcroensdeuntceteddi,nfosleloctwioend3b.y1 andANseOctVioAn o3f.2th, erecsopnetcrtibivuetliyn.gFfoarctoearscha,ffeactdinesgcreisptitmivaetiaonnablyiasiss. of the observation was conducted, followed by an ANOVA of the contributing factors affecting estimation bias. 3.1
This study aimed to investigate the ability of older pedestrians to estimate vehicle speed and stopping distance while crossing the street, especially at night, and to determine what factors affect the ability of older pedestrians to accurately estimate speed and stopping distance

Summary

Introduction

According to a WHO report, approximately 270,000 pedestrians worldwide were killed in 2010, accounting for 22% of the total fatalities resulting from traffic accidents [1]. In urban China, crossing streets has become a necessary activity as well as an essential skill for all citizens This normal activity requires that pedestrians make immediate decisions based on approaching vehicles and their own mobility [2]. This is a highly challenging task for the older people of China, who make up an extremely vulnerable population of pedestrians using the roads [3,4]. A report from the Zhejiang Public Security Bureau (a Chinese province) showed that, in 2016, more than 1500 pedestrians over the age of 60 were involved in road-crossing accidents, which accounts for 36.4% of the total number of traffic accidents that year [5]. Consistent with this, several studies of road-crossing decisions have concluded that older people make more dangerous decisions, e.g., smaller gap acceptance, shorter time-to-collision estimation, etc., than do younger people, in complex traffic environments [6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15] and that these decisions are associated with a decline in physical and cognitive functions [2,6,13,16,17]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion